Episode 1.01

In the final decade of the 19th century, Hester Appleyard — a beautiful, mysterious widow — arrives in Macedon, Australia. She pays cash for the local white elephant — a formal mansion isolated out in the bush. Here, she establishes a school for young ladies.

Six years later, Appleyard College is a success. A bastion of Victorian England, ruled with an iron fist by its enigmatic headmistress. But something haunts Hester. Is it the bush — dangerous and untamed? Or is it her own secret past?

Appleyard College has three star pupils. Sophisticated Irma, a Rothschild heiress. Whip-smart Marion, daughter of a High Court Justice. And rebellious tomboy Miranda, a cattle-station princess. Their friendship ignites the magical and dangerous energy of adolescence. They resist the edicts of society.

Confronted by the unwelcome advances of a young soldier headed for the Boer War, Miranda impales his foot with a pitchfork, earning her headmistress's contempt for her lack of self-regard. But the girls have already convinced Hester to allow a visit to the local landmark.

And so, as she punishes devoted young orphan Sara for Miranda's recklessness by keeping her back from the outing, and Miranda retaliates by showing the headmistress an unseen object which clearly reveals some unwelcome truth.

On Saint Valentine's Day, 1900, the Appleyard girls and governesses go on a picnic, to Hanging Rock. And there, in the strange brooding landscape, something unthinkable happens…